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about

Ender Belongs to Me is a reclusive experimental pop duo from the still fertile slums of Brooklyn. What better place to be while they wonder after their own identities and significance? Both of the pair go by Peter Wiggin in interviews and although their creative endeavors have brought the two together for their garageband collaboration, their music is anxious and damaged, as much by their hidden personal lives as their tension over gestures toward a new digital culture. Under their assumed name, both cop to long struggles with substance abuse. Both spent time in rehab. The recordings that make up Memory are an artifact of those times. The five tracks were recorded at different times with different guest vocalists over the course of years, yielding up a fragmented opus, preserving in sound the emotions of those tumultuous years and the ultimate priority of their shared identity.

"The unnamed Brooklyn duo behind Ender Belongs to Me write on their Tumblr—using the single voice of Peter Wiggin, the damaged older brother in Ender’s Game—about addiction, fear of digital capitalism and the uphill climb out of unhappiness. But their Tumblr and that whole downtrodden aspect of the group’s identity were unbeknownst to me when I first heard 'All Working,' a lovely gem of DIY pop with a supremely catchy, child-like chorus: 'Two-four-six-eight, hella look great, hella feel great/ And everybody jumps on board, and now we’re all working'. Now, what initially seemed like a pro-sharing schoolyard chant feels like something out of Alcoholics Anonymous, flipping the song’s perspective from inclusive and uplifting to lonely and shattered. I think that makes it even better." -The FADER

"The introversion is the real strength of this EP, in my estimation. So much music incorporating the kinds of percussion and synth sounds found on this recording carries a sort of timbral demand to join some kind of anthemic party. But this music is enjoyable while keeping to itself, making no demands that you match its mood. It’s conversational rather than manipulative . . . While there are glimpses of sadness that surface in these tracks, and minor keys are the order of the day, the textures are gentle, the songs evolve carefully, and you get the feeling that the redemption these songs work toward isn’t far away." -Killed in Cars

"The collected grooves sound like pop jams slightly scuffed, warped, and degraded over the years; in ways that only serve to enhance the melodies by making them more elusive and more intriguing (in the same way that some people grow more handsome/beautiful with age)." -Turntable Kitchen